14ymedio, Juan Diego Rodríguez, Havana, 27 November 2023 — A handful of black beans, a little salt and four pounds of rice: the list of what they were distributing this Monday in a bodega (ration store) in Centro Habana, to give an account of the calamitous state of the rationed market in Cuba.
Miniscule and dirty, the beans were sold for 20 pesos a handful, which does not reach a pound “for two people,” said the bodeguero (shopkeeper). Katia, a resident of the area, made a face. “With a teenage son, I don’t have enough to even start with this.” And the little bit of salt, the woman of about 40 continued, she hadn’t been able to get it for two months.
As for rice, the four pounds they gave on this occasion were divided into two: two pounds of one donated, free, and another two parboiled, paid. “One